


Masks

by Multi_FandomWeirdo16



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Robin Hood - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 20:35:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13842528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multi_FandomWeirdo16/pseuds/Multi_FandomWeirdo16
Summary: He hates them. He hates them all and he couldn’t care less if they dropped dead.So why is it when they call for his aid, he begrudgingly goes to answer their call?They aren’t on good terms. Not at all. Can Bruce and the rest of the batfam fix their mistakes and mend a broken bridge? Or will Jason forever be stuck alone in a world he believes no one wants him in?





	Masks

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this story is very much going to be one hell of a train wreck. But imma try my best okay? No judging! However, constructive criticism is accepted and if anyone would like to be a co-creator or be willing to help me write this story, It'd be greatly appreciated! Love you guys! Also, sorry for lack of posting on other stories. Writers block is an ass so its not my or the other authors fault. We're trying Dx

Jason Todd always wore a mask. Whether it be the domino mask he wore as Robin, the helmet he wears as Red Hood, or a mask to hide his emotions, there was always one on his face. Whether anyone noticed or not, it was his only way to hide. 

 

Growing up on the streets, it was dangerous for anyone, let alone a scrawny little kid his age, to show emotion. It was considered a weakness and the strongest always took down the weak. The streets had a pecking order and Jason was damned and determined not to be on the bottom of it. Not only that, but he had to be strong for his mom. She’d been getting worse which meant Jason had to go to greater lengths to get her the things she needed. Medicine, food, he tried not to let her get anymore drugs but she always found where he stashed the cash. Which only made it harder for him but he never got angry, his mom was too fragile for anger, and he refused to let anger control him like it did his dad. He refused to turn into that monster…

 

Once his mom died, he had to put on another mask. One of a confident, tough, street kid. One that knew what he was doing, one that practically gave him a sign that said ‘I’m rabid! I’ll do whatever it takes to survive! DON’T fuck with me!’ When in reality...he was utterly terrified, and trying to mourn for the loss of his mom at the same time. It was hard. It was a struggle that no kid his age should have had to go through. But he managed, that is, until Bruce Wayne came into the picture. Well, his nighttime counterpart actually. Batman, Gotham City’s very own dark knight vigilante. See, Batman had just so happened to catch him in the act of a small bit of theft. Now, of course the man could have just turned him over to the authorities who, in turn, would turn him over to the system which he would run away from and end up right back where he was, only woking more on not getting caught. But no, the man took him to the Wayne manor only for it to be revealed to him that Bruce Wayne, billionaire orphan, was in fact Batman. He was offered a position of Robin, which for some reason, he gladly accepted. And that’s when he put on yet another mask. The domino mask used to protect his identity, although if it weren’t for the fact that his adoption had been broadcasted, he doubted anyone would really care about who he was, doubted they would have been able to figure it out either because without the suit, he was just another street rat with scraggly hair and a face that reflected all the horrors he’d seen in crime alley.

 

It was okay for a little while, he was able to take off his masks every once in a while and just get to be him. But of course, nothing good ever stays, at least not in Jason’s life.

He was taken by the joker and brutally beaten and tortured within an inch of his life, and in that time, he had lost everything. He didn’t know which parts of him were real and which ones were the masks, and so he just gave up. His real mom, the one who had birthed him, had given him willingly to the Joker and stood there and watched, that was until the psychotic clown turned on her and left her to die with him. The Joker had set up a claymore bomb which he planned to use to blow Jason and his mother to bits with. He managed to force himself to move, to try and shield her from the blast, it barely worked of course, it only made the damage on his own body worse. The time after that was very hazy to him, He remembered waking up in his own coffin, terrified and alone, he remembered the pain of ripping and tearing his fingernails as he scratched at the wooden surface in order to try and escape his prison. He remembers suffocating as dirt and worms and other things clogged his airways as he pushed himself to the surface, struggling to gain leverage on the mud-like soil that trapped him. He remembered bursting from the ground, gasping and coughing as he finally gained some precious oxygen in his lungs, only to mutter a single name.

“Bruce.” 

He continued to mutter that name as he forced himself to stand, his pre-mortem injuries still bearing their hold and effects on his body, shattered bones, bleeding wounds and brain damage. It was all very painful, yet only a vague memory in his broken mind. At that point, he had no masks. Not even his own identity, a walking corpse that was shattered beyond repair. It didn’t help getting hit by a car but he barely remembered that either.

 

A year. He spent a year wandering the streets of Gotham, muttering Bruce’s name, then Thalia Al-Ghul found him and kicked him into the Lazarus pit. It healed his wounds, his physical damage and even a little of his mental but when he came out, he was almost crazy. Scared and angry. Thalia helped him though, she helped him return to as close as normal as he was gonna get, she trained him, helped him. There, he didn’t really need a mask because the pit had taken away whatever identity he had before the warehouse, before Joker. He returned to Gotham, hoping to return to his family and title, only to see that everything was taken from him, his life, his name, everything. It was as if he had just been forgotten and replaced. It hurt. It made the anger, multiplied by the pit, boil to the surface. He went mad once more. Going on his own version of justice as he wore his new mask.

 

Red Hood.

 

With his new mask in place, he lets his anger and pain lead his actions. Let’s them control him as he killed, tortured and attacked. He made sure not to hurt any innocents or women or children. They were to be protected. No matter what. But that didn’t count for his replacement.

He was a special case. He took his life from him. Jason didn’t want it back, he didn’t want to be around people who cared so little about him… but he would make the replacement pay. He would make all of the ‘bat clan’ pay...dearly. It wasn’t right or fair. Robin was his. That so called ‘family’ was supposed to be his. But no. They- Bruce- willingly gave it away as if Jason meant nothing to them. And it hurt.

 

Time passed and he slowly calmed down from the pit. But it didn’t change much. He did stop trying to kill the bats, but a majority of that decision came from his lack of care. He was starting to give up. At this point, he just didn’t care anymore. It hurt to much to care. He still used guns, he was still a crime boss, and he still killed when the necessity arose, but he tried not to cross paths with the bats anymore.

 

He kept the Hood mask on. The helmet helped hide his emotions and allowed him to keep his true feelings hidden from the outside world. And it was working ‘okay’. Or at least it was until the bat brats started coming into his life again. 

 

He didn’t know why, he just wanted it to stop. He didn’t want pity, he didn’t want misguided guilt and he sure as hell didn’t want to be tricked back into a family that would more or less leave him for dead...again. He knew his place, he wasn’t about to let hope ruin everything he had worked so hard for. 

 

More time passed and he slowly began to work with the bats, instead of against them. But it didn’t help him remove the mask, if anything, it made it stronger. He was willing to work with them, yes, but he was still unbelievably angry at them and he wasn’t about to let his guard down around those who could easily shatter him. They’ve hurt him too much for him to ever trust them the same way. Especially Bruce. The man he thought of as a father had repeatedly shown that the feelings weren’t returned. He continuously took the side of his murderer, rather than the son who he had wronged so much. It stung more than he cared to admit. But he kept the mask up. An impassive man with no emotions. He hid his hurt and grief behind sarcasm and anger. It was better to let them think he was the monster rather than try and prove them wrong. There was no point. And so he continued on with his struggle, silently and behind the prison walls he’d built around himself.

 

Which lead to where he was now. 

  
  
  


Jason Todd stood on the roof of one of the many buildings in Gotham, his helmet was tucked underneath his right arm while a cigarette rest between two of his fingers on his left hand. The smell cigarette smoke was strong as he inhaled and puffed out. The slight red embers of the tip dying out  before he dropped it on the ground and snuffed it out with his boot. He huffed, his eyes slightly cloudy with reminiscence as he recalled his childhood on these streets. Every grind against the asphalt reminding him of brutal memories from the past that ate at his subconscious. He often came here to patrol, but now, he was lost in thought, recalling how he lost himself completely, how this morning, he didn’t recognize his voice, his eyes, his entirety. He was a stranger in his own psyche. He continued to stare blankly out at the skyline. The cold air nipped at the skin on his neck that wasn’t covered by the collar of his jacket or the kevlar that protected his chest, but it didn’t bother him, he was use to that feeling.

 

“Red Hood.”

 

Jason sighed softly but didn’t bother to turn around, he already knew where that voice came from. He also knew who it belonged to.

“Hey, Demon spawn.” He said as he put on his helmet. He wasn’t going to risk letting the Bat’s sidekick and son to see his face. It had been a particularly rough night and he just wasn’t in the right mindspace to conceal his emotions correctly.

The nickname got an annoyed grunt from the smaller boy. Jason decided then to turn and actually face the boy. Damian Wayne stood, his body language tense and on hand resting dangerously close to the hilt of his sword. It didn’t surprise Jason though, after his multiple attempts to murder the young Robin, he couldn’t blame the tense and distrusting behavior being shown to him. Yet, he didn’t bother letting the other show it had any affect on him.

“What brings you here? I haven’t done anything so maybe a message from the old man or you just showing up to be annoying?” He said with a slight tilt of his head. He moved away from the ledge to get closer to the boy. He knew it was a stupid move but he enjoyed pissing others off, it was kind of a habit at this point.

 

Damian snarled at the older man. “I was coming to make sure you weren’t causing any trouble. Father and the others may be blind to you’re history of violence and betrayal, but I’m not.” He spat.

 

Jason had to resist the urge to scoff. Betrayal? At what point did  _ he _ betray  _ them _ ? He was pretty sure it had happened the other way around. But at this point, it didn’t matter anymore. He could barely find the will to care.

“Me? Trouble? How dare you? I’m almost offended!” He drawled out dramatically as well as dripping as much sarcasm as he could into his statement. He held a hand to his chest and leaned back slightly as if he were appalled by the very idea of him causing any sort of mayhem. 

 

This only seemed to aggravate Damian more.

 

Good.

 

“Listen,  _ Todd, _ ” He ground out, spitting out the others name like venom “If you screw up, I’ll be there to help deliver you straight to Arkham where you belong.” He snarled.

 

Jason was glad he still wore the mask because that comment  _ hurt _ . He tried to ignore most of the comments he got. He had received so much hatred when he returned, from the bats as well as the other heroes, that the comments didn’t have much effect on him anymore. But the topic of Arkham was still a sore spot. During his time of rabidness due to the pits effects, and Bruce’s temporary disappearance, Dick Grayson, the first Robin who moved on to become Nightwing, had taken up the cowl and had put him in that insane asylum. It hurt and it did more damage than good.

 

“Oh shut it pipsqueak. You probably couldn’t put a hamster in a cage, let alone me in Arkham, besides, I’d just weasel my way out,” He smirked a little beneath the helmet. “I’m smart like that~” He hummed. Damian opened his mouth, probably to spit out some other insult, but he never got the chance as his com buzzed in his ear, the only reason Jason knew that is because Barbara had given him a comm and put the bats channel on it for him in case he ever needed to get in contact with them.

“Better get to moving, Daddy’s calling.” He said as he smirked more in response to the angry scowl the other directed at him. Jason wondered if the young Robin might actually ignore Bruce’s call. As humorous as it was, part of him hoped that the boy would get over his stubbornness and follow orders. Whether he admitted it or not, not following orders is what got him killed in the first place.

 

Reluctantly, Damian turned and grappled away. 

 

Sighing, Jason turned to look back out at the city he had called home for so long. It was funny, he had remained in the same city, he knew where he came from, but after all the shit that happened, Jason didn't know who he was anymore. He didn’t have an identity. Technically Jason Todd was dead, Robin didn’t belong to him, and so all that was left was Red Hood, but even that title was not his own.

 

He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. He didn’t have time to pity himself. He had things to do.

 

As if proving his point, a woman's scream could be heard a couple streets away. Jason took off towards the point of distress. He was hoping it was something to actually do and not just some woman screaming because of an engagement (That happened once, bad day for the hood, pointing a gun at the face of a man kneeling on the ground with a ring in a box and his pants now soiled.) or because she saw a rat (That also happened, come on people, it was a fucking city for christ sakes! There’s gonna be rats! There was a giant talking man gator and you got scared by a mouse? Priorities people!)

 

Thankfully, it was indeed a cry for help.  A young woman, early twenties, maybe, surrounded by three men, one of which was right up close and personal, holding a knife to the girls throat while the other guys snickered at the womans pleas and whines for them to stop and leave her alone.

 

“Awe, what’s the matta’ sweetcheeks? We fella’s jus’ wanna ‘ave a bit a fun!” The leader of the group claimed as he reached down and groped the girls ass, earning him a fiesty slap across the face.

“Ooh! This one’s got a bit o’ fight in ‘er! Seems we get a bit more fun than we thought!” He said looking around and earning laughter from the two other men.

 

Jason rolled his eyes. Damn! What was it with guys always trying to be assholes! Couldn’t they just jack off at home with some porn? It’s not illegal  _ and _ Jason wouldn’t have shot them for doing it!

He jumped down silently before pulling a gun from his holster and pointing it at the group. “Come on fellas, that’s not how flirting works, you’re kinda doin’ it wrong.” 

 

The men turned and faced him, the two goons looked slightly caught of guard and almost a little scared, the leader however, wasn’t that intelligent apparently and scowled at him angrily.

“If ya wouldn’t mind,  _ asshole _ , you’re kinda interruptin’ somethin’. So buzz off!” He spat.

 

Jason just stared at the men with an uninterested expression. “Really?” He said monotonously before firing two shots, taking out the goons. He shot them both in the head and before anyone tries to jump in his shit, they were rubber bullets, it didn’t kill them, but they would wake up with one hell of a headache.

“Last warning dickbag, step away from the lady, or get a cap up the ass, your choice.”

 

The man seemed generally worried now, of course to him, it probably looked like he actually killed his friends.

For once though, the guy made the smart moved and backed away from the woman, allowing her to run away quickly because to her those guys probably looked dead and she was already terrified to begin with, still, a ‘thank you’ would have been appreciated.

 

“L-Listen, I uh.. I was jus’ playin’ around! I didn’t mean no harm!” He said, trying to cover his ass as he looked at his unconscious friends. “Y-You ain’t gonna kill me too, are ya?” He asked, his voice shaking.

 

_ ‘Oh how easy it is the bring men to their knees.’ _ He thought with light humor. He paused as if to ponder the man’s question. “Hm… It’s a possibility.” He said before firing another rubber bullet. Yep, headaches for a week. But hey, at least he’ll wake up, although a jail cell is a bit shittier that what the guy might’ve thought he’d wake up to.

Using zip-ties, Jason bound the three men together and tethered them to a light pole before taking back off to the roofs. 

 

Jason had been very surprised to have gotten any problems tonight, with the way he’d been running crime alley, less and less crime had actually been happening.

 

_ ‘And yet Bruce says I’ll never be a better batman, despite still proving him wrong.’ _

He had to once again shake his head, those thoughts of revenge and anger had to be left in the past.

He continued to run along the rooftops, heading towards his safehouse, ready to call it a day when his comm buzzed to life and an all to annoying voice trickled into his ear.

 

_ "Red Hood. cave at 24:00. Don't be late.” _


End file.
